AI and Bible Translation

Photo by Rod Long from Unsplash

Yes, there are too many English Bible translations out there. And, I must confess, I’ll be adding my own in due time. The Lexham Interpreter’s Bible will be the fruit of my work on producing a translation, paraphrase, and notes on the New Testament. My work on Romans is coming out later this year as a foretaste. For me, this project is an interpretive tool, a study aid, not meant to be a pew Bible as it were.

But, there are a lot of ethnic groups in the world yet to have a full Bible translated into their language, or need to have their Bible translation updated. Global Bible translation is one of the unfinished tasks of Christian missionary work around the world.

What can AI do to facilitate or fast-track that task?

Photo by Igor Omilaev from Unsplash

I don’t know if you have used AI to translate anything, but I have, using it to translate websites and journal articles, which it does in an instant, and with alarming accuracy!

There’s a good article AI and Bible translation by Jonathan Robbie at the Biblical Archaeology Society on Artificial Intelligence and Bible Translation.

He describes the technical side of how AI can help with Bible translation through NLPs or “Natural Language Processors.” But he points out that Bible translation is never going to be completely automated, at least not soon, because of both ambiguity in the original and host languages, but also because of the human touch often required. He concludes:

NLP software may improve quality and efficiency, but Bible translation is best done by human beings, using software as a tool. Producing a first draft is only about 10 percent of the work involved in creating a translation, whether that draft is produced by humans or NLP. Even if software could create a perfect translation—and it cannot—the process of translating the Bible into a local language creates a sense of ownership and community, bringing together the translation team and the group they serve, while also preparing that community to study and teach using the translation that is produced. If the group for whom a translation is intended does not feel connected to it, they may never use it.

Software and resources are best used in ways that help translation teams work together. Such teams are usually diverse, composed of people who bring different cultures, skills, knowledge, and experience to the task. Teams may include native speakers of the target language who lack training in the biblical languages and experienced scholars and translators who do not have a background in the target language.

Still, it’s nice to know that AI can help achieve better and faster Bible translations so that, as the Wycliffe Bible Translators intend, “Every person has the right to hear and understand the Bible in their own language” or as in the words of the Bible Society “The Word for the World.”